Hello everyone, I am about to begin planning and filming a documentary on Pastafarianism. I came here to ask for your help, I will need it to make it as best as it can be.

Basically, I just need any information you can offer me, whether it be general practices (such as holy holidays or prayers) or passages from holy scriptures. If someone could give me an outline on these things then it would be great. I already have the whole thing set out, all I need is this information to make it more authentic. Anything you can offer would be appreciated.

I am doing research on the subject myself, but just in case I cannot find what I'm looking for, these are what I need to know:

As far as pirate costumes go, what are the practices surrounding them? Is it just priests (don't know if there's a specific name for them, or if they even exist in Pastafarianism) that wear them while preaching, or at other times too?

The first place to start is here, with the reason Pastafarianism came about in the first place. Then you might refer to the Gospel, and hopefully after that the rest of the forum will make more sense to you. There are also a couple of Facebook groups that might be useful.

There are a lot of students and a few academics on this forum, so we never do your research for you. It's all out there if you want it, but you have to find it yourself. We don't do dogma, and we have flimsy moral standards, so your interpretation of Pastafarianism will be as good as anyone else's.

I'm wondering how/why you decided to do a documentary on this topic when you seem to know so little about it. I'm not trying to be an ass, but I had to ask.

Spend some time on the Venganza site and you'll start to get the spirit and flavor of this religion. You'll also see how sad much of the hate mail (mostly from God-loves-you Xians) is, and this in turn will clue you in on the different world views that find themselves at odds here. It will also point you to articles on FSM-inspired events, activities, art, protests and counter-protests.

Hello Nuttz,The advice you have been given is perfect! I am new to Pastafarianism and I wanted to offer to be in your movie. I could talk about what made me become a Pastafarian and any question you have.

Hello,I am new to Pastafarianism and the forum. I tried posting a reply you your post but i dont think it worked. The advice you have been given is excellent. I would love to be in your documentary and since i am new to being a Pastafarian i could talk about what made me become one and any questions you have.

I think the biggest thing you need to know about Pastafarianism is its origins. As mentioned by Roy, it arose out of the Open Letter sent by our Prophet Bobby Henderson (Pasta be Upon Him) to the Kansas State Board of Education when they were trying to introduce the bogus and anti-science concept of "Intelligent Design". In it he introduced his revelations about the Flying Spaghetti Monster and requested that it be taught along side it:

I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence.- Open Letter

The central belief of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is that an invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe "after drinking heavily". According to these beliefs, the Monster's intoxication was the cause for a flawed Earth. We believe that all "evidence" for evolution was planted by the Flying Spaghetti Monster in an effort to test Pastafarians' faith, and that when scientific measurements such as radiocarbon dating are taken that suggest the Earth is really, really old, it is really the Flying Spaghetti Monster changing the results with His Noodly Appendage. We believe that Pastafarian Heaven contains a beer volcano and a stripper factory. The Pastafarian Hell is similar, except that the beer is stale and the strippers have sexually transmitted diseases.

It widely held by many if not most outside observers that Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is a spoof religion, designed to satirise creationism and creationists. They base this view on the ideas that there is as much evidence for ID as there is for the FSM, and the fact that our belief that the FSM plants evidence parodies the views of certain biblical literalists.

The other big tenet in Pastafarianism is that pirates are sacred to the FSM (and BTW we aren't talking about the gun-wielding modern "pirates" of today, but rather the peace-loving explorers and spreaders of good-will of yesteryear, who were well known for good deeds like giving candy to children. We believe that the image of these pirates as "thieves and outcasts" is misinformation spread by Christian theologians in the Middle Ages and by Hare Krishnas). Pastafarians believe that ghost pirates are to be responsible for all of the mysterious lost ships and planes of the Bermuda Triangle. It is also a fundamental belief amongst Pastafarians that it is the decrease in the number of pirates that has caused global warming - this was also mentioned in the Open Letter and demonstrated by Bobby H (PBUH) by this graph:

Again this has been used by many observers as evidence of the satirical nature of the faith, suggesting that the graph instead illustrated that correlation does not imply causation, and parodies the suggestion from some fundaMentalist religious groups that the high numbers of disasters, famines and wars in the world is due to the lack of respect and worship towards their deity.

The 2 big Pastafarian festivals are Holiday and International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Holiday is celebrated around December, around the other festivals of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. However the date of it is only vaguely defined. Holiday does not take place on "a specific date so much as it is the Holiday season, itself". Because Pastafarians "reject dogma and formalism", there are no specific requirements for Holiday. Pastafarians are instructed to celebrate Holiday however they please . We know when Holiday has arrived when we start seeing Happy Holiday greetings out and about. This is the Flying Spaghetti Monster announcing the festival. Pastafarians have noted the the increasing use of "Happy Holidays", rather than more traditional greetings (such as "Merry Christmas") as evidence of increasing support for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and the rise in the number of Pastafarians in society.

Although International Talk Like a Pirate Day is not a specifically FSM event (it is a festival founded by Ol' Chumbucket and Cap'n Slappy), but as Pirates are sacred to the FSM, it was quickly adopted by Pastafarians as a day of observence. It is celebrated on Sept . 19.

Increasingly Halloween is also being celebrated by Pastafarians, due to the observation by our Prophet (PBUH) that during this festival lots of people dress as pirates, and shortly thereafter the weather gets cold.

The Pastafarian faith has few rules. One of our basic tenets is lax moral standards, meaning that there are not many "must or must nots". The nearest we come are the 8 "I'd Reallt Rather You Didn'ts" from the Gospel:

1. I'd Really Rather You Didn't Act Like a Sanctimonious Holier-Than-Thou Ass When Describing My Noodly Goodness. If Some People Don't Believe In Me, That's Okay. Really, I'm Not That Vain. Besides, This Isn't About Them So Don't Change The Subject.

2. I'd Really Rather You Didn't Use My Existence As A Means To Oppress, Subjugate, Punish, Eviscerate, And/Or, You Know, Be Mean To Others. I Don't Require Sacrifices, And Purity Is For Drinking Water, Not People.

3. I'd Really Rather You Didn't Judge People For The Way They Look, Or How They Dress, Or The Way They Talk, Or, Well, Just Play Nice, Okay? Oh, And Get This In Your Thick Heads: Woman = Person. Man = Person. Samey = Samey. One Is Not Better Than The Other, Unless We're Talking About Fashion And I'm Sorry, But I Gave That To Women And Some Guys Who Know The Difference Between Teal and Fuchsia.

4. I'd Really Rather You Didn't Indulge In Conduct That Offends Yourself, Or Your Willing, Consenting Partner Of Legal Age AND Mental Maturity. As For Anyone Who Might Object, I Think The Expression Is Go F*** Yourself, Unless They Find That Offensive In Which Case They Can Turn Off the TV For Once And Go For A Walk For A Change.

5. I'd Really Rather You Didn't Challenge The Bigoted, Misogynist, Hateful Ideas Of Others On An Empty Stomach. Eat, Then Go After The B******.

6. I'd Really Rather You Didn't Build Multimillion-Dollar Churches/Temples/Mosques/Shrines To My Noodly Goodness When The Money Could Be Better Spent (Take Your Pick): • Ending Poverty • Curing Diseases • Living In Peace, Loving With Passion, And Lowering The Cost Of CableI Might be a Complex-Carbohydrate Omniscient Being, But I Enjoy The Simple Things In Life. I Ought To Know. I AM the Creator.

7. I'd Really Rather You Didn't Go Around Telling People I Talk To You. You're Not That Interesting. Get Over Yourself. And I Told You To Love Your Fellow Man, Can't You Take A Hint?

8. I'd Really Rather You Didn't Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You If You Are Into, Um, Stuff That Uses A Lot Of Leather/Lubricant/Las Vegas. If The Other Person Is Into It, However (Pursuant To #4), Then Have At It, Take Pictures, And For The Love Of Mike, Wear a CONDOM! Honestly, It's A Piece Of Rubber. If I Didn't Want It To Feel Good When You Did IT I Would Have Added Spikes, Or Something.

Beyond this there are few rules. Although in the Open Letter, Bobby Henderson (PBUH) suggests that would be disrespectful for teacher to teach FSMism unless dressed as pirates, our lax moral standards means it doesn't matter. Again, although priests may wear pirate gear, it isn't mandatory. Based on the 3rd IRRYD, people aren't judged based on how they look or dress.

I'm wondering how/why you decided to do a documentary on this topic when you seem to know so little about it. I'm not trying to be an ass, but I had to ask.

Spend some time on the Venganza site and you'll start to get the spirit and flavor of this religion. You'll also see how sad much of the hate mail (mostly from God-loves-you Xians) is, and this in turn will clue you in on the different world views that find themselves at odds here. It will also point you to articles on FSM-inspired events, activities, art, protests and counter-protests.

And don't forget, we have a graph!

Enjoy.

Oh, and be sure to let us know what you end up producing.

No offense taken, I suppose I should have been more specific.

I have known about Pastafarianism for a few year now, and my knowledge was fairly basic. When I came up with the idea to make a documentary on it, I began to research more. It's not that I knew very little about it and that I wanted an easy way to gather information, it's that I couldn't find some, and that I figured the more help, the better.

I already know a fair about about it, I couldn't find some of the more specific things such as descriptions of the holidays and what-not. Also, I figured it would be much more beneficial to hear (or read rather) directly from a Pastafarian, rather than off an information webpage.

Thankyou heaps CF, it really helped, and actually conflicted with some of the stuff I've read. If anyone has more info or just ideas, it would greatly help. In the mean time I will be doing my own research.

If it helps at all, it will be a part mockumentary, in the sense that there will be acting. The main 'character' isn't an actual Pastafarian, he will be following a sligh script, although there will also be improv. We plan to have some actual interviews with experts on Religion and/or Communities, members of other religions (priests, etc), and a series of vox pop's (interviewing random people on the streets}. While it will be funny, I'm hoping it will also show a strong statement about how judgmental society is. If everything plays out as I hope it will, people will laugh at the idea of Pastafarianism, and we will use that reaction as a statement. Sure the beliefs may be unorthodox, but what does it matter when they do so much good in the world?

Nuttz wrote:Thankyou heaps CF, it really helped, and actually conflicted with some of the stuff I've read. If anyone has more info or just ideas, it would greatly help. In the mean time I will be doing my own research.

I wouldn't worry if you're confused. Considering most people think we're a spoof religion, and we have loose standards, a lot of our doctrine is confusing - but no more than other religions (Christianity for example has the basic tenet of love and forgivness, yet think of the attitude of many Christians to homosexuality; the Koran states that for all intents and purposes women are equal to men, yet Islam and womens' rights are hardly synonymous).

I does make a lot of sense to ask those basic questions here, to get the answers in people's own words.

Could you please, please, please include interviews from people from the Kansas school board in this documentary? Check the responses from "The Letter". I think Bobby received a thank you/much needed letter from one of them.

I feel I should point out the only thing unifying Pastafarians is our agreement that science should be taught in science classes and religion taught in religious classes. You only have to look through the Serious section to see we disagree over just about everything else

I does make a lot of sense to ask those basic questions here, to get the answers in people's own words.

Could you please, please, please include interviews from people from the Kansas school board in this documentary? Check the responses from "The Letter". I think Bobby received a thank you/much needed letter from one of them.

I would love to interview some of those people, the only problem being that I live in Australia, and being a low budget film I can't fly over to get an interview or two.

I does make a lot of sense to ask those basic questions here, to get the answers in people's own words.

Could you please, please, please include interviews from people from the Kansas school board in this documentary? Check the responses from "The Letter". I think Bobby received a thank you/much needed letter from one of them.

I would love to interview some of those people, the only problem being that I live in Australia, and being a low budget film I can't fly over to get an interview or two.

Whereabouts in Australia? There are quite a few of us in the same country as you! I always dress as a pirate on Fridays and 'raid' shopping centres… (more fun than merely doing the weekly shop!)

Reading the "Gospel of the FSM" is a must if you are going to be making a documentary. Its not too long and is an easy read. It will explain everything you need to know. And if it doesn't explain something just making it up is usually a safe move And when you finish this documentary be sure to post how we can watch it. We've had a few people on here in the past saying they are making a documentary and we never hear back from them to see a finished product. (at least I haven't seen one) Very frustrating...